Kari Lake, a former newscaster who harbors the delusional belief that she is the governor of Arizona, is about to enter the "find out" phase of her career as a MAGA fanatic.
Ever since she lost her bid for governor, she's been making unfounded allegations against Stephen Richer, the Maricopa County Recorder. Lake claimed that Richer was involved in election misconduct during the 2022 gubernatorial election. Among her allegations, she accused Richer of intentionally misprinting ballots to sabotage the vote tabulation process and of inserting 300,000 "illegal ballots" into the election count to prevent her from winning. As The Arizona Republic notes, Lake's unfounded accusations were seemingly aimed more at fundraising from "gullible MAGA suckers" than addressing any legitimate concerns.
Her accusations, which lacked evidence and were repeatedly debunked by courts, formed the basis of Richer's defamation lawsuit against Lake. The lawsuit argues that Lake's statements were not only false but also harmful to Richer's reputation and well-being, leading to death threats against him and necessitating increased security measures.
Lake attempted to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing presumably that her statements were protected speech or not defamatory. However, she failed in this attempt. The Arizona Supreme Court rejected her petition for review, refused her request for attorneys' fees, and ordered the stay on the case to be lifted. This meant that Lake's efforts to halt or dismiss the legal proceedings were unsuccessful, and the defamation lawsuit against her could proceed toward discovery and eventually trial.
Radio talk show host Barry Markson said on Twitter that "Kari Lake is in big trouble. Her motions to dismiss @stephen_richer's defamation case were denied by the trial court, the appellate court and the AZ Supreme Court. Now she faces discovery which includes testifying under oath herself plus depositions of her team and others. She will be forced to turn over her emails, texts and documents about her strategy, speeches, plans, etc., which may include indications she knew what she said about Richer were lies. She will be forced to turn over audio recordings, which we now know she keeps, of conversations with others about her conspiracy theory lies."
He also notes that "Richer's legal team is huge and the same attorneys who secured a $148 mil verdict against Rudy Giuliani. They are good lawyers and know what they are doing."
